Love What You Do

The admirable people that are passionate about what they do should serve as inspiration to us all.  These are the types of people that pop out of bed in the morning and face every challenge as an opportunity for improvement. They impact the people surrounding them with a contagious enthusiasm.

Sara G was working on her undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin, Madison when she had the opportunity to shadow a speech therapist that made a lasting impression.   Unprompted, the speech therapist gushed “I love what I do.”  That defining moment for Sara motivated her to receive a Graduate degree in Speech-Language Pathology at Northwestern University.  Now a Speech-Language Pathologist at Blue Bird Day Northcenter, it is clear that Sara embodies that same passion for her work.

Sara’s fundamental goal is to enable effective and efficient communication in her clients.  Her experience has taught her that these are the ingredients for functional communication, especially when working with children with special needs.  Simply put, this means ensuring her client’s communication is quickly and correctly understood by others. This approach is at the forefront of her daily interactions.

Functional communication can appear differently in each child, but Sara has the tools to adjust to each unique situation.  Augmented and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices, Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and other forms of communication are commonly incorporated in the therapeutic school day.  Sara uses PROMPT technique to increase speech intelligibility through tactile stimulus, such as touching lips, jaw or tongue to manually guide articulation.  She specializes in receptive and expressive language disorders, phonological and articulations disorders and early intervention. Sara is also conversational in Spanish and learning American Sign Language.  Being part of a multi-disciplinary organization challenges therapists to never stop learning and collaborate for the best possible outcomes in clients. Sara takes advantage of this by absorbing knowledge from her co-workers and knows she will never stop learning.

Northcenter is gaining a results-driven, organized and highly collaborative team member with Sara.  She has developed a “core word” process for her colleagues to work seamlessly across disciplines and into the homes of her clients.  This weekly initiative teaches ASL one easy sign at a time and is a win for the child, their families and all therapists involved.  Sara has grown her career from an individual therapist at Eyas Landing to officially becoming a Blue Bird in January.  Blue Bird Day’s foundation of being a family centered practice is a perfect fit for Sara’s requirement of working in a family centered environment. Her patience, listening and understanding not only compliment her background, but benefit the families that she works with.